Aaaaahhhghgghggggggghhhhhhhh…
The Emery HOME WIN train derailed predictably yesterday.
Come on, be honest, you knew we’d tank against Palace, and you knew we’d tank against Wolves.
Am I going to sit here and lambast the coach today?
No. What’s the point. Those players should be fucking ashamed of themselves. They can get themselves up for the sexy games, then utterly melt when it matters against shite teams they should be dealing with.
Last night, there was no belief a win was coming. You can tell me Emery prepped the players on what Wolves are like, but I’m struggling to believe anyone was paying attention. Is it a boredom issue? A translation problem? Or the reality that the cancer in the squad is the ghost of Wenger?
Regardless, we don’t have the bottle. Players turning away from well-struck freekicks? Are you joking? FACE UP LADS, FACE UP. Sunday League basics. I never call out Steve Bould, but come on Steve, where are you on that one? Those players in that wall should be locked in medieval stocks and have 1966 leather balls fired at their faces until they scream maniaclly that they are enjoying the learning process.
You should not have to be teaching people like Xhaka not to turn away when they are in their mid-twenties. What a disaster. In fact, I vividly remember being told by a friends dad at 10 that bravery can’t be taught, you’re either going to put your body on the line for your team, or you’ll be a coward. Maybe this isn’t a Bouldy thing? Maybe it’s a rancid attitude to BRITISH FOOTBALLING VALUES. Fucking hell, get me HARD BREXIT on the phone, I have some additional LEAVE thoughts.
Additionally: Where are the, ‘we really missed Xhaka’ crowd today? He’s simply not good enough to be an elite footballer. The fact anyone missed him says a lot about the state of play.
I love Lacazette, he has more swag than MJ (before we knew he was a pedo), but he’s scored 6 goals away from home this year. He’s not a strong player and he gets eaten alive in those physical games.
In fact, it’s fair to say that the whole squad lacks physicality. Not an issue when you’re playing powder puff teams like Napoli. A huge problem when you’re playing a team that has been built on a brief of caps-locked ‘POWER AND PACE.’
I tell you who we did miss. Aaron Ramsey. A PROPER athlete.
I think Emery has done a tremendous job this season on the face of it, but for me, it’s tough to say he’s not a little culpable for the debacle of the last two games. He made a drunk gamble at the weekend when he played a pathetically weak side against a solid Palace that was always going to take advantage of any signs of weakness. That decision wasn’t an acceptable mistake after we paid the same price against Everton. Our biggest opportunity was to bag the home win with a big starting 11, then roll the dice on Wolves with a team that had momentum with it.
He gambled wrong. Hey, we’ve all been there at 3 in the morning, 10 beers deep, in our pants, staking the mortgage on black after we’ve broken into a friend’s Paddy Power account. Just a shame Emery had precedent for the Palace game, he should have played a smarter risk.
However, he’ll get by this season because there are so many drossy players on the outskirts of the 12-14 players that are good enough.
We are still in with a chance on top four, we’ve just multiplied the difficulty.
On a positive note, I think Emery will fancy his chances on the Europa League. Valencia will be an easy tie, and he knows he can get his players up for the big games… so Chelsea in the final will look appetising for him.
I just find it hard to compute what a disappointment this squad is, because yesterday wasn’t about ability, it was about focus, motivation and fight. We didn’t have any of that.
… let’s hope we can stretch that £45m this summer. There is a huge rebuild needed, if we don’t get it right, Arsenal will be an irrelevance for many years to come.
Welcome to what 10 years of neglect brings you… the real ‘careful what you wish for’ was always ‘careful what you stick with.’
What did YOU think? Share in the comments if you agree with me… x
@Bamford10 As you have seen over the last two games you can’t really put the word dynamic and Arsenal into the one sentence. The type of sluggish overpaid players that we have been acquiring over the past number of years has been staggering. Compare the dynamism and running of the Invincibles team to what we have now is just sad. Compare us to say Ajax and even the Spuds and we are away behind most teams competing for the Champions League. In the self same way when you do a compariso nwith the two runaway leaders in the league then… Read more »
Shabz
Yeah, I think Valencia are going to be tough. Especially with our being without Ramsey. If we had Ramsey, Bellerin and Welbeck, and if Monreal were 30 and not 33, I would give us a better chance. As we are, I am pessimistic.
Bamford
the good thing is we are at home first
so hopefully a 2-0 victory would be great
clean sheet needed again
Arsnil
I agree with a lot of that, except that I don’t think it has anything to do with the current owner. We have spent plenty of money over the past 5-6 years; we simply haven’t spent it well. Most of the malaise at Arsenal at the moment is down to Arsene Wenger and his bad decisions. It will take some time to transform things.
Bamford
If I recall correctly. the team with the highest point total in calendar year of 2015, was Arsenal.
That was the period when Cazorla and Coquelin were playing together.
Coquelin led Europe for defensive stats. Let that sink in.
Then Wenger replaced Cazorla with Xhaka………………face palm.
Bamford/gunnersz
I think we will smash Valencia.
We have ourselves an ex-Valencia defender, the great Mustafi who will provide us all the know-how and insight we need.
Bamford10 You could certainly be right but it’s just that I can’t help thinking that Kroenke just doesn’t take enough of a hands on approach in basic matters like … you spend was it £35 million on the likes of Mustafi and nobody is held to account. If it is seen as nothing more than a business to him then that’s fine but run your business properly and not from a glass eyrie in the heavens. At one time our scouting department was the best in Europe bar none. Now even when we spend money we buy dross. And yet… Read more »
Dark Hei
Are you being facetious?
Arsnil
Yeah, I’m with you, except that Stan Kroenke doesn’t know the first thing about football, so I wouldn’t want him taking a “hands on” approach to recruitment. Mustafi was a bad buy (as was Xhaka) and we shouldn’t have re-signed Ozil, but these decisions are down to the football men who made them — read, Wenger — not the owner.
Bamford10
I have completely lost my marbles, lol.
Valencia seemed to have climbed up the tables after selling us Mustafi.
That is telling.
I just don’t understand why some on here blame the manager for everything. It’s like they think he’s controlling everything a player does like a computer game. It’s down to the players on the pitch to perform. Tactics can only get you so far. Mistakes and bad performances can undo even the greatest tactics.
Last night I’ve watch the Centurions dvd, edited a long time ago for the 100 goals of Bergkamp and Henry.
Strange feeling watching wenger, in fact he wasn’t much more “passionnate” or “involved” at that time than he was during his last years at the club…
My conclusion is that there was so many class players on the pitch, wenger had nothing to do, they could have done what they did even without him.
(Pierre, sorry mate… lol)
During that period the conbination Cazorla Coquelin was great for us. It went downhill as soon as Cazorla was injured. Instead of trying to improve Coquelin, Wenger instructed him to simply pass to Cazorla or backward. The second negative impact of that approach is that teams started to swarm Cazorla knowing that he was our main forward pass threat resulting in him getting more and more injured by badly timed tackle. The worst thing is that Coquelin played right winger during his year long loan in Germany. He had the capacity to improve and be a more rounded midfielder. When… Read more »
Coquelin + Cazorla might have been more effective than this or that central midfield, but the notion that that was a “great” midfield is revisionist nonsense. Coquelin was decent on the defensive side of the ball but not even close to the quality needed with the ball at his feet. Cazorla was an excellent player and could perhaps have been a very good CM if paired with two other complementary CMs, but he had his deficiencies as well.
Dark Hei
Good to know you’re joking.
Talking up Coquelin now. Jesus. Flamini was a more complete footballer during his 2nd stint with us than Coquelin ever was, which is saying something. Cazorla made Coq look 3 times the player he was for us during his 6 month purple patch.
Valentin “I clearly remember that when we beat Leicester on the last minute with a Welbeck goal, everybody thought that we were destined to win the league.” Again, I don’t know who you were talking to in those days, but I can tell you that “everyone” did not think we were “destined” to win the league. Indeed, aside from one or two AKBs, no one here thought we were “destined” to win the league that season. Few here even gave us a good chance. More importantly, that win was in mid-February. By mid-March, we were 11 points back of Leicester… Read more »
To return to the Wolves loss, I contend that that was on the poverty of the squad, not on the manager. This current set of players simply isn’t good enough.
Monreal – not good enough anymore
Sokratis – good not great
Koscielny – good but old
Maitland-Niles – not good enough
Xhaka – not good enough
Torreira – good not great
Ozil – not good enough
Lacazette – good not great
Iwobi – not good enough
Mkhitaryan – not good enough
Leno – decent but poor that night
Auba is in a poor form since a few games… he won’t travel at Leicester anyway.
Huge suspense at Leicester : did Emery’s capable to equal wenger with a win out there ?? lol
Tony [re Wolves loss] “We had 71% possession [yet] shipped three goals in the first half without a shot on goal in reply.” This is because our attacking players — and our attacking play in general — are simply not good enough. To go back to when we actually had a top-four caliber squad, what would have occurred if Van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky were in the XI against Wolves? We would have created chances, we would have scored goals. And if we had better and in some cases younger legs across the back four and in defensive… Read more »
God there’s some thick bastards on here. The Everton and Palace team selections were forced by injuries and suspensions, but the dipshit Emery haters are deliberately ignoring this fact.
Bamford
You dont half talk shit. Harvard eh?
“what would have occurred if Van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky were in the XI against Wolves?”
What would have occurred if I had won the lottery ?
((answer : I would have bought back the club)
Don
Make an argument.
Pierre: “Beating Napoli ( a team that was made for Arsena/ Emery to beat ) fooled many , so don’t feel any embarrassment as there were many on Le Grove in the same boat.” This is quite possibly the stupidest thing ever written on here. So let me get this straight: back in August 1926 the founders of Napoli football club decided to form Napoli with the help of their crystal ball for the one and only purpose for Emery to come along in 2019 so he could knock them out of the Europa League with Arsenal? That’s what you’re… Read more »
Bamford
You just talk shit. You’re a shit talker. You chat shit.
Bamford10April 26, 2019 11:20:08 Tony [re Wolves loss] “We had 71% possession [yet] shipped three goals in the first half without a shot on goal in reply.” This is because our attacking players — and our attacking play in general — are simply not good enough. To go back to when we actually had a top-four caliber squad, what would have occurred if Van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky were in the XI against Wolves? We would have created chances, we would have scored goals. And if we had better and in some cases younger legs across the back… Read more »
I understand what Wenger’s thinking. Before his last season, we were just one point off the top4. He had to get us back top4 to keep his job. He has added Laca to the team. If Sanchez behaved like Ramsey, he could have succeeded. Instead, Sanchez became a cancer to the team. He had no choice but to move him. The Mikki deal was probably his only option. The rush to sign Ozil was another big mistake. There maybe other factors there that fans didn’t know about. (sponsor deal or season ticket sale, etc). It was one mistake compound over… Read more »
We lost because emery didn’t set his stall out properly. He rested his first team against palace (a game in which his tactics plus Mustafi cost us vital points) to focus on the wolves game. He’s lost his last 3 premier league games on the bounce This squad went 22 games unbeaten this season and then he was a genius but now he’s fucked up it’s the squad’s fault. He can’t coach defence His attacking strategy is too predictable He has no variety He picks the wrong team in almost every match He can’t seem to set his stall up… Read more »
We were a better team last season
More variety
More flair
Better players
Bamford,
Very slow day but tbh I don’t know about you but I can’t be arsed to argue with all the pricks anymore who are in complete denial as to how bad our squad is and how any new manager regardless of who they are will need at least 3 years and substantial amounts of money to remedy the serious holes in our squad.
Un na
We were useless last season and trophy less and finished outside the top four for the second year running…..No one cares about flair and variety, just results
Un nai,
Yes you’re right; Ramsey was rested not injured, Xhaka was rested not injured, Monreal was rested not recovering from illness, Sokratis was rested not suspended, Torreira was rested and wasn’t nursing a groin strain.
So yes, Emery needlessly changed the team.
He’s lost 2 premier league games on the bounce not 3.
I think we should take Giroud and Sanchez back this summer
Oh yea I forgot the Watford “victory”
So he’s lost 3/4 and was extremely fortunate to win the Watford game
Batistuta
Yes and if we stay we were are and go no further than Valencia then we have done no better. In that case yes I’d enjoy a little flair while we paddle sideways
Benny
They were brought back for the wolves game and we still lost. We didn’t lose v palace because it wasn’t our strongest side. We lost because we were set up poorly defensively and because these players just aren’t as motivated as the opposition
We are better than place
We are better than wolves
We are better than Everton
So it’s not the personnel
It’s that simple
How come it’s Emery can’t win and Emery was extremely fortunate?
Do you blame the players for anything? As they are the ones actually playing.
Our squad is bad because we let our best players go
Wilshere
Cazorla
Ramsey
Giroud
Walcott
Sanchez
They all offer more than what we currently have as a collective
That’s why those players had us in the top 4 and these players don’t
But these players are better than they are currently showing and that’s down to systems, coaching and motivation.
Un na
Don’t exactly know what you mean by paddling away….Results may not have gone our way recently but we still have opportunities on 2 competitions to achieve our target for the season which is to get back into the champions league any which way
Beacuse he’s the manager
He picks the team. Sets the team out. And apparently had an impressive dossier on each player and how best to utilise them. Yes certain individuals must take their share, Mustafi, Aubameyang and ozil being prime candidates but they are marching to the beat of his drum and his drum isn’t tuned properly.
Batistuta
I said paddling sideways
Which we are.
As it stands we are no better than last season
Spurs spent nothing and are 3rd and into the champions league semi final
Un na
We’re still in with a shout at achieving our target from the start of the season which was, get back into the champions league any way we can. That will be the measure of whether we’ve improved on last season or not
Batistuta
Yeah. No thanks to our current manager/team/coaching staff
Bennydevito I did put you down as someone with intelligence though slightly irrational in your thinking. So by me saying that Napoli were made for Arsenal to beat you didn’t have to write “So let me get this straight: back in August 1926 the founders of Napoli football club decided to form Napoli with the help of their crystal ball for the one and only purpose for Emery to come along in 2019 so he could knock them out of the Europa League with Arsenal? ” I hope you was just being deliberately stupid , if not then I worry… Read more »
I believe that Emery’s ELC record is the major reason why Emery got the job. The board wants him to get us back to Champions League through that route. The quality of our squad is 6th at best with Walves and Watford coming close to matching us. For better or for worse, we are fighting for the top4 spot. It has costed our team to be over extended. I am sure that if Emery is focusing only on ELC, we have a better chance to succeed. Now we are running the risk of losing on both fronts.
No. No. I get it now. I’ve re watched the last 4 games and I’ve finally figured it out.
Arsene Wenger lost 3/4 of the last games. He was out there, giving instructions and picking the side. Deciding on tactics. Got it.
Yeah Benny
What’s with all the abuse?
In your last offerings you’ve called people thick cunts and pricks. Bit heavy don’t you think for a football discussion blog considering nobody is treating you in such a discourteous fashion.
Nelson
That doesn’t make any sense. What happens the following season when he’s in the champions league, bombs out of that, bombs the league and then we have no champions league football the following season?
If his only route is the Europa then we can only qualify for the champions league every other season providing he wins the tournament every time he enters it
Yeah he’s the manager, but all he and the coach’s can do is prepare them as well as they can. The players have to perform and carry out the instructions. He’s not controlling them from the dugout. These are professional, international footballers.
Players win football matches. It’s the reason the top managers, Pep, Klopp, Mourinho etc spend such big money on improving their squads.
Gbat
So it wasn’t wenger’s fault that we were only finishing 2nd 3rd and 4th when our rivals were completely outspending us?
Ok.
But to counter your point. Why can he set them up to best top 6 opponents and Napoli but not mid to lower table teams?
That would indicate the players are good enough but he’s just not able to figure out standard premier league, pace and power tactics
So here’s the squad, summer their contract expires and what they are on a week as best as I can tell from a few different sources. Licht 2019 90k Cech 2019 100k Monreal 2019 65k Ramsey 2019 110k Welbeck 2019 70k Jenks 2019 45k Suarez 2019 52k Koscielny 2020 90k Sokratis 2021 90k Ozil 2021 350k Mikky 2021 200k Auba 2021 180k Mustafi 2021 90k Lacazette 2022 140k Kola 2022 120k Elneny 2022 55k Iwobi 2022 30k Guendouzi 2022 40k Chambers 2022 70k Leno 2023 90k Xhaka 2023 100k Bellerin 2023 100k Holding 2023 40k AMN 2023 35k Torreira 2023… Read more »
Un
You are projecting the future assuming that there will be no change to the squad and the management. We are talking about only this transition year. There will be so many factors coming into play in the future.
Gbat The manager is the most important person at a football club.. He picks the players He decides the tactics He chooses the style of football a club wants to play. He decides who joins the club. He decides who leaves the club . and if he gets it wrong he should be sacked. The correct manager can transform a club and that is why it is important Arsenal employ the right man . Some seem to think that Emery is receiving criticism due to loyalty to Wenger….they are wrong. They are wrong because , if a new manager came… Read more »
Our squad is bad because we let our best players go
Wilshere
Cazorla
Ramsey
Giroud
Walcott
Sanchez
I don’t think so, all those players are playing where they are supposed to, wally is everton level striker, and jack is a west ham level midfielder. Ramsey is playing like a juve signing but time will tell if he is consistent. Sanchez cant play in a team with specific instructions.
The people recommending we bring back giroud and sanchez should not be taken seriously. As usual with le grove all players in other teams are WC apart from ours.
Biggles
Substantially agree with the main theme of your post. Given the squad composition and salary structure, it will take at least until 2021 for the squad to be “de-Wengerised”.
Regardless of how well or poorly we think he’s doing, Emery is likely to be in place until then.
The concern is, given the vacuum at Chief Scout / Technical Director level at present, whether we’ll be able to unearth decent players to replace some of the departing dead wood.
Otherwise, regardless of who is manager, it’ll be a case of dead wood out, dead wood in.
“It’s no coincidence that Ozil’s stats have deteriorated alarmingly since January last year ( when Sanchez left). He has gone from being one of the most creative players in Europe in the first half of last season to just another player.It’s obvious that Emery doesn’t know how to use him ( unlike wenger ) and it’s obvious that he doesn’t trust him on the field ( unlike wenger) and the situation has become detrimental to The Arsenal football team.” More Ozil bullshit from the resident Oziltologist.. Ozil has had just one double digit assist season(EPL) since he joined us (9,… Read more »
Nelson
Yeah i can see that line of logic bearing fruit with only £45m being handed to emery this summer
We fixed the day we let kroenke in the door
We haven’t been Arsenal FC since he got his claws into the club and it’s only going to get worse
Mark my words. We will win nothing major with him running our club. Definitely not with emery as head coach too. At least we were entertained before. Now we are just bored and miserable.
The new twilight zone is grade A dog turd. Jordan Peele is nothing more than a gimmick. Get out as full as it was at least got its message right.
“Ozil has had just one double digit assist season(EPL) since he joined us (9, 5, 19, 9, 8, 2) which brings his average to 8 a season(so the 19 was the exception, not the rule).”
Quoted for truth. Pierre is a masochist who loves being repeatedly humiliated.
Un “But to counter your point. Why can he set them up to best top 6 opponents and Napoli but not mid to lower table teams? That would indicate the players are good enough but he’s just not able to figure out standard premier league, pace and power tactics” you are right, It does indicate that the players are more than good enough. His failure to understand the strength of the premier league will get is downfall. I will go as far as to predict that next season the league will be won by as much as ten to twenty… Read more »
Be his( get is)
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/5351679/arsenal-mesut-ozil-best-creator-west-ham-dimitri-payet/
http://www.espn.com/soccer/arsenal/story/3415286/mesut-ozil-surpasses-eric-cantona-as-quickest-to-50-premier-league-assists
There are many more…..I would think that as supposed Arsenal supporters, you would be proud to have such a creative player in your team .
“you are right, It does indicate that the players are more than good enough.
His failure to understand the strength of the premier league will get is downfall.”
Jurgen Klopp beat a load of top teams in Europe to reach the final last season, but finished 4th with 75 points. I suppose that suggests he didn’t understand the league(still) after two years in charge.
“There are many more…..I would think that as supposed Arsenal supporters, you would be proud to have such a creative player in your team .”
Ozil is so creative he has just one double digit assist season lol…
Pierre, I’m still pissed off from the Wolves match and pissed off at how bad we are from told to bottom as s club. A lot of us have been saying for a good few years now that once Wenger finally gets the boot it’s going to take whoever’s the next manager a good few years and a good few hundred million to remedy the serious Wenger neglect and decay of our squad. This hasn’t happened this season it’s been happening slowly since we started selling/giving away our best players to Barcelona, Man City and Man utd. It wasn’t Emery… Read more »
I used to be frustrated but still quite like Ozil as a player until Pierre started defending his world class status on here at every conceivable opportunity.
Now I just want him gone. Watching him play in matches is still ok, particularly at home, but I’m not sure I can bear hearing any more narratives and “statistics” from The Great Oziltologist
Un nai,
Is it International irony day today?
For you of all people to be harping on about abuse is absolutely priceless.
See my above response to Pierre; I’ve ran out of patience and I’m seriously agitated about Arsenal, and considering I very rarely get abusive, or rather use strong language compared to how common a lot of other posters do anyway, I didn’t really think it would be a problem.
Sorry.
Pierre, “I will go as far as to predict that next season the league will be won by as much as ten to twenty points fewer than this season due to the strength of teams like Leicester , palace, burnley, Watford, wolves and Everton who are improving year on year with stronger and deeper squads.” I see. So us losing to Everton, Crystal Palace and Wolves wasn’t such the terrible results you and the Wengertite Emery outers are trying to portray. Thanks for clearing that up. Snd considering Man City with Jesus Guardiola also lost 3 – 2 at home… Read more »
Gonsterous Regarding : Wilshere Cazorla Ramsey Giroud Walcott Sanchez I think we will miss Ramsey and miss the physical option giroud gave us- he’s far from the best but he was a valuable player nonetheless. Regarding walcott, I don’t think we miss him specifically but we definitely need some genuine pace out wide and he could provide that. Cazorla we wouldn’t miss if Xhaka and Özil could find better form The one player I think we miss enormously is sanchez. I have no idea what’s happened to him at man u, but for arsenal, he was the player who could… Read more »
emery has performed wonders in my book period. at least he competing with the best coaches around in the world for its first season. someting that cannot be said about a our previous manager.
Wenger used to achieve top 4 regularly and his the god of arsenal, the moment the top coaches appears in the picture, he was found out. so yes ’emery has done quite well in his first season.